"The kingdom, by instruction of King Abdullah, is donating 50 million dollars... to assist the Haitian people," Nugali said.

The donation, the largest announced by a Middle Eastern country, will go through the UN fund for Haiti.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference has urged Muslim states to donate to Haiti, where a January 12 earthquake is estimated to have killed more than 150,000 people and left hundreds of thousands of others homeless, hungry and injured.